In 2012, GCCA, through the WFLO, worked with Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) on the USAID-funded Morocco Economic Competitiveness (MEC) project by hosting activities to identify and promote potential cold chain investment opportunities in Morocco. Specific activities included a webinar introduction, Business-to-Business (B2B) matchmaking, and advisory services.
A webinar open to all GCCA members took place on September 26, 2012 led by GCCA with featured speaker, Matt Meredith of Lixia Capsia (LixCap) who presented several investment opportunities in Morocco. Approximately 2 months later, LixCap established Atlas Cold Port on November 28, 2012 as the entity to develop a food logistics platform at the Port of Tanger Med.
The webinar included the participation of GCCA member, Friopuerto, a cold storage operator in Valencia, Spain. Principals of LixCap met with Mr. Manuel Cabrera Kabana Sartorius of Friopuerto Invest SL and subsequently began a business partnership to develop jointly the Tanger Med Project with local investors Yacout Investissement.
Since this time, Atlas Cold Port has been rebranded as Friopuerto Tanger. With a total investment commitment into Morocco of USD 15 million, the first phase of the facility opened in February 2016 to create a “fresh hub” at the Port of Tanger Med. This hub will include cold and fresh storage, packaging, processing, and handling services. It will also:
“This project is an excellent example of how the development work of the WFLO, Richard and Amanda, can be used to create for-profit investible opportunities for GCCA members that serve important development needs. We are actively looking for other opportunities like this with WFLO.” - Matthew Meredith, partner LixCap
For questions about international development opportunities, please contact Richard Tracy (rtracy@gcca.org) or Amanda Brondy (abrondy@gcca.org) at +1 703 373 4300.
